Horse diets

Question
QUESTION: Hello i am wondering if any horse can have grain? My horse is a very healthy horse, not overweight or underweight. He is fed hay twice a day, but can i feed him grain too? I notice many horses at my barn get grain. Can i give my horse some too? If so what kind and how often?
Also do all horses need salt blocks? Should i be giving my horse a salt block? If so how often should i be giving him one?

Thanks so much!

Thanks Elara

ANSWER: Dear Elara,

If your horse is in good weight and can perform the work you ask of him on hay alone this is hte best diet he could have.  Grain is not necessary except for horses who need more energy pound for pound than hay can provide.  ALL horses should receive at least 1.5% of their body weight per day as hay regardless of how much work they do and preferably 2%.  However when they are working hard and need more energy the hay may need to be cut back (never less than 1.5%) and grain added.  So I think you are doing just fine.

Yes your horse and ALL horses should have access to plain white salt, not the red salt blocks.  Your horse should consume 2lbs of white salt every month it should be in his stall all the time.  If he won't use a block then you need to add 2oz to his diet everyday.  This is also why people feed grain so they can give their horses other supplements.  However you could give him the salt in hay cubes that you have moistened slightly.  

The only other thing you should give your horse is a mineral supplement that specifically will provide what the hay can not so something made to balance grass hay. There are several out there most major manufacturers have one, you are looking for something that says it balances a grass hay (or alfalfa if you feed all alfalfa) hay diet.  Select II is good some others are LMF super supplement G, TDI 30, Triple crown 30.  These last 3 you feed about a lb a day and they are pelleted so they look like grain but they are not grain.  So this also may be what you see other people feeding.

Just a note about adding salt to your horses diet rather than by block.  Start out slowly a little bit each day because it is an acquired taste just like it is to us.

Best regards,

Clair Thunes, PhD
Independent Equine Nutririonist
Equilibrate Equine Consulting
clair@equilibrateequine.com
www.equilibrateequine.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok thanks so much.If he weren't doing ok on just the hay diet how would i be able to tell?

Also about the salt blocks, what are the differences between the white salt and red salt block? Why not give him the red?

Thanks again,
Elara

Answer
Elara,

You will be able to tell because your horse will not be able to maintain his weight eating an all hay diet.  This means he is using more calories than he is consuming (unless something else is going on like bad teeth or worms).  In this situation you should increase his hay first but if that doesn't work then you would add a small amount of grain.  The choice of grain and amount would depend on the type of work he is doing, the type of horse and his personality.

As for the blocks the red ones have minerals in and the white ones are just salt.  He should be getting his minerals from the hay balancer I discussed last time.  So if you give him a red block when he uses it to get salt he will also get a lot of other minerals he doesn't need.  This will unbalance his diet.

Hope that helps.

Clair